Scam Targets Indianapolis Homeowners Renting For Super Bowl

By
Emily Wong Loi Sing

Posted February 22, 2012

Some homeowners say they never got benefits promised to them during Super Bowl week.

Super Week Lodging promised to rent out people’s homes during the Super Bowl – guaranteed. All homeowners had to do was pay a fee of about $1,200 to get listed in an online database. Once they paid the money, Super Week hired local photographers to take pictures of the home for a virtual online tour.

About 30 homeowners fell victim to the scam. Super Week collected the money, but the renters never came. The photographers were never paid, and homeowners were never refunded. Dave Daniel was contracted to get $150 for each home he photographed.

“I’m an Indianapolis-area photographer and I had posted on Craigslist for event photography, I’m a legitimate business owner and here my name is linked with a scam, and I’m upset about that,” Daniel says.

Zionsville homeowner Mel Woodard says he was told he would make more than $52,000 to rent his home for a week. Woodard’s photographer called to warn him the business was a scam. When Woodard called Super Week for a refund, the phone number had been disconnected.

“He was taking shoots of other homes and was not getting paid by Super Week Lodging. So he was starting to call some of the homes he did shoot to say, ‘Hey, I think this is a scam,’” he says.

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